Vick to Turn Over $400K to DoL
Disgraced NFL quarterback Michael D. Vick has agreed to pay $416,461 in restitution to a pension plan sponsored by his company MV7 LLC to settle allegations Vick had funneled off plan assets for his personal use.
A U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) news release said Vick will also pay a civil penalty to settle the prohibited transactions charge.
According to the announcement, Vick violated his duties as a plan trustee by making the transfers from March 2007 to July 2008 from plan assets that were partially used to help pay the criminal restitution imposed on Vick after his conviction for unlawful dog fighting as well as fees for the attorney in Vick’s bankruptcy cases (see “Michael Vick and Financial Advisers Sued for ERISA Violations”).
The judgment permanently bars Vick from serving as a fiduciary to any plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), requires him to pay all expenses associated with termination of the plan, and appoints an independent fiduciary to manage the plan until it is terminated.
“Corporations and executives who are plan fiduciaries have a duty to protect the pension assets of participants,” said Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary for the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). “Our legal action ensures that these participants will get the plan assets owed to them.”
MV7 LLV was a celebrity marketing enterprise owned by Vick, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 7, 2008, the DoL said. The company sponsored a defined benefit retirement plan for nine current and former employees as of October 2008.